'Ease Hooper'

London one of the legends of West Indies cricket has come out batting for West Indies cricket captain Carl Hooper.

No less a person that Sir Everton Weekes has called on fans to forgive Hooper.

Although it is difficult to forget, we should always be ready and willing to forgive, said Sir Everton en route to Australia for the memorial service for former Australian batting great Sir Donald Bradman.

Sir Everton felt if Hooper did things which the public was not happy about, then the period of recrimination should be set aside. He said all of us have done things of which we would not be proud today, and therefore Hooper's alleged wrongdoings should not now be the central issue.

He said Hooper had impressed him as a good captain of Guyana and in the first two Tests against the South Africans.

He observed that Hooper appears to be more committed than ever before. He said: Hooper seems to be showing great emotional ties with his team.

People in the Caribbean have expressed doubts about whether the Guyanese was the right man to lift West Indies cricket out of the doldrums, but Sir Everton is in no doubt, and said Hooper's ability and current tenacity put him unquestionably as the man for the job.

We have young players who have shown exceptional progress. They have also shown commitment and dedication, and therefore we must work with and for them if the future of our game is to be underwritten, said Sir Everton who made 4 455 runs (average 58.61) in 48 Tests, including 15 centuries.

He cited batsmen Ramnaresh Sarwan, Marlon Samuels, Wavell Hinds and Chris Gayle as youngsters of immense potential and said the selectors should let them know they would be given a long run in the team.

Shivanarine Chanderpaul, Leon Garrick and the little known left-arm spinner Dave Mohammed of Trinidad were players whom Sir Everton felt would soon be pressing their claims for places in the team, and he was happy to see Dinanath Ramnarine perform creditably in the first two Tests.

He felt Ramnarine was the best of the group and he hoped he would also be given time to hone his undoubted skills.

We have depended on pace for probably too long, and it seemed as though people felt spinners could not contribute. It is now time to encourage them because of the paucity of talent in the fast bowling department, Sir Everton said.